Deputy injured in scuffle at Froggies bar

A Jasper County Sheriff’s Deputy was injured Sunday in a scuffle with a husband and wife at a Carthage bar.

John Hacker

A Jasper County Sheriff’s Deputy was injured Sunday in a scuffle with a husband and wife at a Carthage bar.

The Jasper County Sheriff’s Department said Justin G. Sowell, 29, Jasper, was arrested after the incident at Froggies, 2110 E. Fairview Ave., Carthage. Jasper County Court records show that Sowell was charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, and was held on $5,000 bond.

Sowell’s wife was also detained after deputies said she yelled profanities at them and refused to back away, but she wasn’t charged with any crime.

The sheriff’s department, in a written release, said the incident happened at 1:06 a.m., Sunday when deputies went to the bar to conduce a security check.

The release said deputies concluded their security check and were leaving the bar when Justin Sowell initiated a fight with them in the parking lot.

Sowell was arrested, but as a result of the incident, one deputy suffered a broken wrist.
The release said as Sowell was being restrained, his wife started yelling profanities at the deputies. She allegedly followed the officers as they put her husband in the patrol car and was told several times to stop and back away, but refused, leading to her arrest for “refusal to disperse.”

Just one week earlier deputies, along with Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers and Carthage police officers were called to Froggies to quell a disturbance involving 40 to 50 people.

That incident happened at 1:33 a.m. Jan. 20. The sheriff’s department said it was investigating two people as possible suspects in the incident, but no names were released and no arrests were made.